I have an 84 Bronco full size with all total stock. The old tired 160,00 mile 302 took a dump and broke a timing chain. Since the engine was buring oil, leaking oil, overheating, and didnt run for it's life, i decided to fix her up a bit. Long story short...
I have a 302 91' clock, not roller equipted. i heard it was rebuilt about 30,00 to 50,000 miles ago. but decided to take it aprt anyways.
The crank had some scuffs on the journals, and the cylinder walls looked good, no ridge at all. So i decided to upgrade to a roller motor. Found used rollers on ebay, and found an used cam on ebay from a mustang!!!. It's a 90' H.O. camshaft. here's the questions...
Anyone ever had good results using the mesh cloth sanding to obtain the .001, or .002 bearings while polishing the crank?...as far as longevity??? i want this motor to last!
Anyone used the standard ho mustang cam for 90 in a truck of camparible weight, and mass? and how did it do....
by the way, i have 2bbl brand new holly 350 ( i know...i know but that can be replaced once the engine is in and running!) an MSD6a ignition, and coil, good plugs wires, tru roller timing chain, normal cast pistons (again...i know) the rollers (used), and mustang cam (used) new water pump, dizzy (duraspark vacuum adv) i found mustang swirl ho heads on ebay, and am porting them now...
any good guesses on what my HP might be...i have quite a bit of time before i have the cash even to find a place to rent a cam bearing tool. so an ongoing discussion is fine with me.
Anyone ever made their own windage tray??
Is a main girdle worth it in an engine that will never see 350 horeses?
Total seal rings worth it???

Any other advice on getting a 302 to last longer in a Bronco will be nice...it will pretty much only see a little snow, and some mud and trails...nothing extreme, but driving many miles daily
help me out....

signed...only wants to do the engine once!

 

I don't have the answers to a lot of your questions, but maybe I can offer a few thoughts.

I've heard a number on the boards complain that the Mustang cam doesn't give the low end torque that a truck needs. Maybe it would be okay in the mid-range, but the low end seems to be a concern.

My 302 saw it's end last fall at 144K. I also wanted a build that would last, but would also outperform the stock engine while remaining driveable and smog friendly. I chose to rebuild the existing engine, going with a remanufactured crank and boring the block 0.030". I also had the mains align-honed. I had the intention of having the works balanced, but a miscommunication with the machine shop nixed this. Oh, well. Rods were stock reconditioned, with Keith Black hypereutectic pistons and Total Seal rings. I picked up a set of E7TE heads for nothing and had them rebuilt with a 3-angle valve job. (Could've / should've gone with at least GT40's, but had to watch costs somewhere!). The cam was a Crane Compucam 364112, and FRPP 1.6 roller rockers were installed (I degreed the cam in). The throttle body, intake and fuel injectors are stock, with Bassani shorty headers on the exhaust side.

I purposely went slightly mild with this - I could have gone more aggressive on the cam, heads, intake, but I was hoping (and assuming) that the EEC would let me run this combo and keep the speed density setup. Hey, between the cam and the Total Seal rings, 20" of vacuum at idle can't be a bad thing, right? It didn't matter..... I still had to convert to mass air.

Anyhow, I know you're running a carb. My point is, now that I've got the EEC working with my combo, I'm very happy with it. I've got to wonder what, in particular, heads and a slightly hotter cam would do, but still the Crane has good low end - The truck can pull up to speed with no trouble where it used to be a dog. Temps stay right in check with where they should be, and I've got to believe the roller rockers help. They also keep the engine quieter than its ever been. I've tried to build this one to last, and I guess we'll see (I've only put 1800 miles on it so far). At any rate, if I had to offer any suggestions, I'd say (1) go with a reputable machine shop..... for the money, I decided to let mine handle the polishing work and cam bearing installation..... I just handled the assembly (2) consider a cam with strong low end and mid-range, and use a quality true roller timing gear and chain set (3) consider roller rockers, though not completely necessary. Ditto for the Total Seals.... this is my first set, and I'm experimenting more than anything.

This is getting longer than I'd intended. My apologies for rambling. Just tossing out some thoughts and opinions.

 

OK, what stood out in your description and criteria is you want for this engine to last.....

Pull the crank, connecting rods and pistons out for a cleanup and micropolishing on the crank.....then get the rotating assembly balanced, it will cost about $150-200 for this and its worth it.

Total seal piston rings are definitely worth it.....they have the lowest leakdown rate in the industry.

Ford turbo swirl heads are good and if porting keep in mind that the intake ports need to get progressively smaller until you reach the peak of the riser
and then the portwork should enter the "transition" into the valve pocket or bowl as some would call it. (have the port bead blasted)

The exhaust ports should be even sized from the exit of the valve bowl to the port exit. Polish this area.

Port match the intake too....

Make sure and take the engine in for carb tuning for good performance and optimum fuel mileage.

Stud mounted roller rockers are affordable and free up horsepower too. go 1.6 ratio and hardened 1 piece pushrods.

The mustang cam should be fine, it gave the 5.0 300 ft lbs of torque so that is pretty good.

If you don't have the spider assembly and the H clips to keep the roller tappets from rotating in the lifter bores, then now is the time to get them...
I have seen them on Ebay.

Have roller cam bearings installed into the block. Also purchase new Clevite 77 bearings.

double roller timing chain is good.

get a ford racing oil pump to keep the vitals filled with oil.

a ford racing 302 windage tray is pretty affordable, summit has them for dirt cheap. (same ones as boss302)

bottom line here is this....if you want it to last, spend some money on it, concentrate most of it on the bottom end.

If you don't and go exremely cheap, then the longevity of the engine will reflect what you have spent.

I have seen it time and time again....
do it right the first time.

 

I like what you were saying. Unfortunatly I am completely out of money right now, and no vehicle....ARRRGGHH..lol
For the guy with the Kieth black pistons, the side coating is nice, but im hearing hyperueretic pistons are not in for the long haul. They say the best pistons are forged all around if you ever throw serious power at it.
I also heard that if you go with roller rockers, then you'd better get real good stainless ones. The aluminums, I heard need replacing after as little as two years, and as many miles as I drive, that would not be good. It would be nice to know the valvetrain is that tight, but you're only gaining a very marginal amount of power for the money.
The roller cam bearings would be awesome, I had heard about doing those the other day, but again, without cash, and no ride, that'll have to be for a later engine.
I guess what I determined is that ifa bad-*** engine for my truck that will last a long time, I do want to spend some good cash on machining, and the block itself, and that for now....is not possible. For now, im gonna put in what I have, find a way to either polish the crank, or hope for that bonus check and get a new one with some forged pistons. Maybe make my own windage tray to copy someone elses.
I think as long as my crank situation is all good, then the engine should get me a few ears of good playtime with my new truck.

I will continue to read on if other want to add more to this discussion. I've been learning a lot lately, and there's a lot of you who are real good at this stuff.

 

As for the Keith Black pistons, we'll see..... I experimented with a few items on this last build, and it's the first time I've ever used them (along with the Total Seal rings). If they don't last, chalk it up to experience - my understanding was that the hypereutectic alloy didn't expand or contract to the degree of a forged piston, allowing tighter clearances, while being stronger than cast. Again, though, maybe there is a longevity problem. Or, since mine doesn't see severe duty, maybe there won't be.....

One more consideration on the roller rockers..... while your power gains may be marginal, you may also consider what benefits you might gain from lowering your oil temperature. I can't quote specifics, off-hand, but I know the lower friction at the valvetrain is supposed to contribute to keeping the temps lower.

One thing Capone mentioned, which may be a good option for you at present, is taking good care of the block and lower end. If you're happy with it, and you know it's right, you can always swap in that ideal set of heads / intake / headers down the road when the $$$ are there. At least then you won't need to pull the whole engine, if you don't want to. Take care!